Keeping Score

Cam Hutchinson, in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix: “Things are so desperate in Phoenix that people who buy a bottle of Smirnoff vodka at select retailers get a free ticket to a Coyotes game. If you purchase two bottles, you get to coach the team.” . . . Ian MacIntyre, in the Vancouver Sun: “If Shane Doan played in a major market with a superior team, might he be in the same conversation with Jarome Iginla?” . . . Doan, of course, is in the NHL’s witness-protection program in Phoenix; Iginla plays for the Calgary Flames. Both own a piece of the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers. . . . The two other hockey-playing Blazers owners, Mark Recchi of the Boston Bruins and Darryl Sydor of the Dallas Stars, are enjoying solid seasons and making noises like they will play again in 2009-10. . . . However, neither Doan nor Sydor will appear in the Stanley Cup playoffs, their teams having failed to qualify.
CBS-TV’s David Letterman, on the NCAA tournament field going from 64 to one in just over two weeks: “It’s like GM stock, when you think about it.” . . . Then there is NBC-TV’s Jay Leno, who put it this way: “As you may know, President Obama has made his prediction for the Final Four. . . . The only ones left standing after next week will be Citigroup, Chase, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.” . . . After AIG, which has been in the news south of the 49th for all the wrong reasons, said it was changing its name to AIU Holdings, Ltd., comedy writer Jerry Perisho noted: “In other news, Alex Rodriguez will now be known as Brooks Robinson.” . . . Ian Hamilton in the Regina Leader-Post: “San Jose Sharks centre Jeremy Roenick has purchased Pembroke Country Club, the Boston-area golf course on which he played often as a teen. If they’re nice to J.R., members of the Toronto Maple Leafs might be able to get a deal so they can use the course every April.”
Congrats to Peter Soberlak, the former WHL sniper who now is the chair of the physical education department at TRU, and his wife Amy on the birth of Jacob John, who checked into our world on Sunday night. “By far, it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me,” says Peter, who is one of the good guys. And if you haven’t given a listen to his latest CD — Thrill of the Chase — you’re cheating yourself. Pay particular attention to the track titled Secrets Safe With Me. . . . Someone from HoopsWorld.com asked Shaq for his opinion on Portland Trail Blazers centre Greg Oden. The response: “I don’t. I’m a Shogun. You can’t ask me about a low-level ninja.” . . . In case you missed it, Calgary Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris and his wife welcomed a second son into this world late last month. They named him Barron Grey Burris. The Stamps, after all, won the Grey Cup in November.
By now you’ve heard that five dogs died during this year’s Iditarod. As Bobo wrote at thesportsbobo.com: “Michael Vick is wondering why nobody in Alaska faces hard jail time over this. Also, he is wondering if there is any way to bet on this death race.” . . . Outfielder Tyson Gillies of Kamloops has been sent by the Seattle Mariners to their minor league camp. After spending last season with the Class A Everett AquaSox perhaps he’ll start this season with the Class AA West Tenn Diamond Jaxx. They play out of Jackson, Tenn. . . . He hit .303 and drove in four runs in 33 spring-training at-bats with the Mariners. . . . I had the good fortune to break bread one night this week with speed skaters Josie and Tori Spence, late model stock car driver Brendan Langlois and mountain biker Chayse Marshall. With young people like these and parents who care, this old world of ours will be in pretty good hands.
Congrats to Brad Watson, who recently was honoured as the Kamloops Minor Hockey Association’s volunteer of the year for his work with the Initiation A and B programs. His better half, Tracy, used to hang out at a desk in these parts. . . . John McEnroe, who used to be an angry tennis star, apparently got ripped off in an art scam. Which led to this headline at Fark.com: What, are you blind? . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “A-Rod with hookers — wow, I never saw that one coming.”
With so much talk about Twitter and twittering and tweeting, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Kevin McHale offered: “I heard someone say Charlie Villanueva was tweeting and I thought it meant he went (to the bathroom).” . . . And then there’s New Orleans Hornets head coach Byron Scott: “A what? No. I don’t have a policy on that. I don’t know what the hell tweeting is.” . . . The Daily News Christmas Cheer Fund won’t officially open for business until mid-November. But that hasn’t stopped folks from getting an early start. When I arrived at my desk Tuesday, there were three tins full of change on my desk, with a note that Natasha from the United Way had left them for the Christmas Cheer Fund. . . . Natasha, allow me to be the first person this year to wish you a Merry Christmas. . . . And the money already is in the counting room.
After Tiger Woods stormed from behind Sunday, Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Even with a big lead, Sean O’Hair faced a tall order Sunday, or as NBC’s Johnny Miller noted of the difference between champion and challenger, ‘He’s like the sun and you’re like butter.’ ” . . . Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “Bank of America extended its sponsorship with the New York Yankees, and economists immediately hailed it as the ultimate win-win. The team gets much-needed signage for its new ballpark, and the bank gets to borrow money whenever it needs it.” . . . Next week, The Daily News will publish Friday but not Saturday. But don’t worry . . . Keeping Score will appear in Friday’s paper.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com.